Pharmacognosy

Pharmacognosy is the study of plants and other natural substances as possible sources of drugs. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of physical, chemical, biochemical, and biological properties of drugs, drug substances, or potential drugs or drug subsrances of natural origin as well as the search for new drugs from natural sources."

The word "pharmacognosy" is derived from two Greek words: pharmakon (drug) and gnosis (knowledge) or the Latin verb cognosco, meaning "to conceptualize" or "to recognize."

The term "pharmacognosy" was used for the first time by Australian physician Schmidt in 1811 and by Crr. Anotheus Seydler in 1815 in a work titled Analecta Pharmacognostica.

Originally--during the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century--"pharmacognosy" was used to define the branch of medicine or commodity sciences which deals with drugs in their crude or unprepared form. Crude drugs are the dried, unprepared material of plant, animal, or mineral origin, used for medicine. The study of these materials under the name pharmakognosie was first developed in German-speaking areas of Europe, while other language areas often used the older term materia medica taken from the works of Galen and Dioscorides. In German the term drogenkunde ("the science of crude drugs") is also used synonymously.

As late as the beginning of the 20th century, the subject had developed mainly on the botanical side, being particularly concerned with the description and identification of drugs both in their whole stage and in powder form. Such branches of pharmacognosy are still of fundamental importance, particularly for botanical products (widely available as food supplement in the US, natural health products in Canada), quality control purposes, pharmacopoeial protocols, and related health regulatory frameworks. At the same time, development in other areas of research has enormously expanded the subject. The advent of the 21st century brought a renaissance of pharmacognosy and its conventional botanical approach has been broadened up to molecular and metabolomic level. 

In addition to the previously mentioned definition, the American Society of Pharmacognosy also defines pharmacognosy as "the study of natural product molecules (typically secondary metabolites) that are useful for their medicinal, ecological, gustatory, or other functional properties. Similarly, the mission of the Pharmacognosy Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago involves plant-based and plant-related natural health products for the benefit of human health. Other definitions are encompassing, drawing on a broad spectrum of biological subjects, including botany, ethnobotany, marine biology, microbiology, herbal medicine, chemistry, biotechnology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice.

• Medical ethnobotany: the study of traditional uses of plants for medicinal purposes;
• Ethnopharmacology: the study of pharmacological qualities of traditional medicinal substances;
• Phytotherapy: the study of medicinal use of plant extracts;
• Phytochemistry: the study of chemicals derived from plants (including the identification of new drug candidates derived from plant sources);
• Zoopharmacognosy: the process by which animals self-medicate, by selecting and using plants, soils, and insects to treat and prevent disease;
• Marine pharmacognosy: the study of chemicals derived from marine organisms.

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